Received message from Pakistan to include Siddhu in cabinet: Capt. Amarinder Singh

New Delhi: Making stunning revelation ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said that he had received a message of request from Pakistan to consider including Navjot Singh Siddhu to his state cabinet.

"I received a message from Pakistan, that the Prime Minister (Imran Khan) has sent a request if you can take Siddhu into your cabinet. I will be grateful, he's an old friend of mine. And if Siddhu doesn't perform, then remove him," Amarinder Singh said while addressing the media.

Calling the current Punjab Congress Chief incompetent and incapable, Amarinder Singh said that 70 days after welcoming Siddhu he had asked him to leave. After two to four weeks, Amarinder Singh says he received a request message from Pakistan to include him in the Punjab assembly cabinet.

Captain Amarinder Singh resigned from Chief Minister's post and from the Congress party in November 2021, and later formed his own party namely, Punjab Lok Congress (PLC). For the upcoming assembly elections, scheduled for a single phase on February 20th, the Bharatiya Janata Party has announced a National Democratic Alliance in Punjab with Captain's PLC and Sukhdev Singh Dhinsa's Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), a breakaway fraction of SAD.

In a jointly held press conference, BJP President J.P. Nadda announced that the party will contest on 65 seats, whereas the PLC will contest on 37 seats and the SAD (Sanyukt) will field 15 candidates.

BJP Chief Nadda that Punjab has greatly contributed to the country in defense and food security. Nadda said that the state has always fulfilled the expectations of the people of India. The party is aiming to form a double-engine government, i.e., a state government and central government led by BJP. "Objective of the NDA alliance would be to bring back Punjab on the track to development. To make a sincere effort towards the same. And to achieve this, a central-state relationship is required for stability, safety and security," Nadda told reporters at the BJP headquarters. Reiterating the need to bring safety and stability to Punjab, Nadda said, "Today, land mafia, sand mafia and drug mafia have hollowed the state from inside. Which is where this alliance goes forth with this commitment that we will end this mafia raj and take action against them… We believe in zero tolerance against terrorism," he said. Punjab will go to polls for 117-member assembly seats on February 20 and the results will be announced on March 10.